'Sword murder' teenagers given life sentences
Paul Erhahon murdered with seven-inch blade by gang of teenagers
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Friday, 09, May 2008 07:59
Three teenage gang members have been handed life sentences for the 'sword murder' of 14-year-old Paul Erhahon in east London last year.
A total of five teenagers were found to be culpable in the death of the boy, who was killed near his home in Leytonstone on Good Friday 2007.
Paul Benfield, 16, and Kevin Adu-Marcet, 15, were both given life sentences with a minimum term of 13 years, while a third boy convicted of murder, Jordan Conn, 15, was given life with a minimum term of 11 years.
Nathan Desnoes, 16, was sentenced to a 12-year custodial sentence, with a minimum of eight years, and Theo Diah, 19, was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of seven years. Both were found guilty of manslaughter.
The Old Bailey heard how Paul had "been in the wrong place at the wrong time" when attacked by the gang of 17 youths, the youngest of which carried out the stabbing with a seven-inch blade.
Jonathan Turner QC, prosecuting, said the younger members of the gang, which had members in their 20s, had been hoping to "earn their spurs by doing the bidding of their elders".